Deliverance
by Nenya Entwhistle
Summary: Complete! Post “Don’t try it.” What if Obi-Wan hadn’t walked away from Anakin? What if things had turned out a little different at the end of Return of the Sith?
1. If Angels Slept, Devils Won't Rise

**Note**: This is my only attempt to write a full fic of Star Wars and if I don't represent the world very accurately, I hope you will give me some leeway and still enjoy the tale I have to tell!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Star Wars, George Lucas does. I'm only borrowing for a little storytelling.

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**DELIVERANCE**  
by Nenya Entwhistle

_If Angels Slept, Devils Won't Rise_

Rage. Impossible, passionate fury and all directed at him. Obi-Wan felt no moment could be worse than Qui-gon's death, but this was—_oh this was._ This was no murder he couldn't prevent; this was an act of his own reckoning. He had done this to his padawan, his _brother. _

The words: "I hate you" tore into his heart.

So carelessly he had thrown the words of love after the unspeakable act. What had he done? It would have been easier to just let Anakin kill him, easier to bear. And he wouldn't have to live with what he'd done. Oh mercy, what had he done? To Anakin? Not just this—this amputation of legs and arm—but before, before when Anakin hadn't turned. What had he done to make Anakin renounce him as Master and take another?

The once blue eyes, now so red, were slicing into him. Begging in their own outraged way, and Obi-Wan knew he should leave. He had to. If he stayed, he wouldn't be able to kill Anakin. He would end up helping him. And thus cause the end of any possibility of redemption in this world.

Because he knew, Anakin—no, Darth Vader—would kill him. There would be no mercy, no salvation. But Obi-Wan couldn't move his legs up the incline. His feet felt leaden. They were weighed down by his guilt. He couldn't leave his padawan here to die a slow, painful death. He had mercy. He could do this. End this.

He turned his lightsaber on and walked down to where Anakin was struggling to stop from sliding into the lava river. When he was close enough, he saw Anakin raise his face up and glared at him with a deep, abiding hate. It should have made it easier. The hatred. But it only caused a memory of when Anakin used to look at him in respect and… adoration.

He couldn't do it. He turned off the lightsaber and tucked it into its holster instead. Then he sank to his knees and held out his hand. Anakin's eyes shifted to that offering hand. _Take it. Take it._ _Take it!_

Anakin slipped a little further and Obi-Wan reached out a bit more. "Let me help you, Ani," he said.

"Why?" Anakin rasped, still clinging on by his prosthetic steel hand.

"_Please." _

Anakin didn't move his hand and his bloody eyes were filled with something other than pure anger. There was something else, but Obi-Wan was afraid to put a word to it, afraid he would be wrong. Anakin kept slipping, sliding down. Soon it would be too late.

"Ani," Obi-Wan said, "don't."

And he didn't. Anakin lifted his hand from the ash and gravel to grasp his hand. The intense fury had subsided, but it was still there. Obi-Wan dragged Anakin up and once the ground was more stable, he lifted his padawan into his arms. He cradled Anakin closely and began the hard climb up the mountain all while Anakin looked on with increasingly blank eyes.

Anakin was slowly dying.

-

And he wasn't waking. The medics had done everything, but for some reason Anakin wouldn't wake up. They said he was stable and was in no danger of dying, but they didn't want to risk putting on his new prosthetics until he was conscious. They were afraid doing so would push him further into the coma, so far that he might never rejoin the waking world.

Maybe it was a good thing, Obi-Wan considered, if he never woke up. Then Chancellor Palpatine—Darth Sidious—would be without his new apprentice. That would weaken him, according to Yoda, who had confessed that Anakin was destined to be greater than either Sidious or himself. But if he never opened his eyes, then there was no chance of redemption. Only this static existence.

"Master Obi-Wan?" C3PO said. "The medical droids asked me to get you. Miss Padmé is about to give birth."

So they had only managed to delay the births by a month. The twins would be premature, only by a month, but that was still better than being born at seven months. Padmé hadn't held up well at all after… the events. Her eyes had been wild and her words nearly incoherent when she'd asked about Anakin. And he told her a version of the truth, that Anakin was recovering and would see her soon.

Except he hadn't. Couldn't. And she had begun to believe the worst.

"_He's dead, isn't he?" she said in a tired voice. "He's dead, and you won't tell me—afraid it'll upset me." She took a deep breath. "It's okay. You can tell me if you killed him… I can accept it. You did what was necessary." _

_But he hadn't. "He's not dead, Padmé," Obi-Wan said reassuringly, patting her arm and squeezing her hand. "You have to believe me. He's recovering from the wounds he sustained… that I gave to him, but he came around in the end. He asked for help." If reaching for a hand could be called asking. _

"_Did he?" she rasped. "Did he turn back?" _

"_I think so." Obi-Wan brushed aside some of the damp hair sticking to her forehead. "I think he's seen the wrong he has done." _

"_He killed younglings," she whispered. "Younglings… I never thought he could do such a thing. Not Anakin. Not my Anakin." _

_Obi-Wan bit his lip and nodded. "He can still be reached, Padmé, but it won't be easy." _

_She coughed. "I haven't the strength," she said. "I becoming too weak." Her eyes got a far off look to them, as if she was seeing something that wasn't in this room or maybe even on the ship. "I won't live much longer." _

"_Don't think like that," Obi-Wan said. _

_Padmé smiled weakly. "I want to see Anakin." _

"_You should conserve your strength."_

"_For the babies," she said. _

"_Yes." _

"_But after," she said, "after they're born, I want to see him, Obi-Wan. I want to see my husband." She clung to his hand. "Promise me." _

_He nodded. _

"_And one more?" _

"_What?"_

"_Take care of him when I'm gone," she whispered. "He loves you so much, so much…"_

Obi-Wan brushed his thumb against Anakin's cheek and then drew back. "C3PO, will you watch Anakin and let me know if his condition changes?"

"Yes, of course. I will contact you if his condition changes." C3PO nodded and walked into the room and stood in the back, his attention entirely on Anakin and the machines monitoring his condition.

Obi-Wan smiled a little and walked out of the room, heading to Padmé's room and hoping for the best. He certainly didn't need another tragedy after all that had already happened. So many Jedi lost and killed. And his padawan so crippled by his own hand. For Padmé to die might be the last blow to Anakin.

Because if there was one person who could turn Anakin back to good—it was her.

-

"Luke," Padmé said and then, "Leia." She smiled then and a peaceful calm went over her face. Her beautiful eyes searched for him and Obi-Wan knew she was dying. She didn't struggle to say anything, but he knew what she wanted. He nodded and she closed her eyes.

The medical droid said, "She is gone."

Obi-Wan looked down at the babies, the beautiful son and daughter of Anakin and Padmé. What would become of them? He didn't know. They couldn't stay here though, not with their father. He was too gone and who knew if he would ever come back?

He turned away from them, strengthening his resolve and said, "Take them to Master Yoda."

"Very well, Master Kenobi."

-

"To Tatooine. To his family, send him," Yoda said.

Obi-Wan hesitated, wanting to go with the boy and knowing that there was still Anakin to deal with. He gulped and croaked, "What of Anakin?"

"Tormented by the dark, he is. Killed younglings and Jedi Masters, he has. His fate, you must decide. Your padawan, he was."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. "I cannot kill him, Master Yoda."

"Then redeem him, you will."

"If I cannot? If he is too far gone?"

"Then kill him, you must."

Obi-Wan had been afraid of that, afraid of having to finish what he had started.

-

A week and more had passed. Yoda had taken baby Luke to his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Bail Organa and his wife had Leia. Anakin's children would be fine; they were in good hands. But what of Anakin? He was still in a deep coma and the medical droids said it was unlikely he would wake up soon, but eventually yes.

Obi-Wan dreaded the wait. There was no one he loved more than Anakin. He fully admitted it now. It had blinded him to Anakin's faults, caused him not to see his apprentice falling, and he had made mistakes that both of them had paid for. By the force, what a fool he had been!

"Master Kenobi," the medical droid said, drawing him from his thoughts. He was puzzled as to why when he noticed Anakin's eyes fluttering. Obi-Wan felt his stomach clench as he waited to see…

Anakin's blue eyes opened and Obi-Wan could tell it took effort, sheer force to push them apart. He seemed disoriented, unfocused until his eyes slowly made their way to him. They pierced him, and he saw anger in them.

"Anakin," he said softly, "I'm sorry."

All his former padawan could do was glare at him, spitting hate with his eyes. There was no way he could speak, not with air being pumped into his lungs and under such heavy medications as he was. It was a miracle he was even awake. The medical droids had said he was being heavily medicated for his own good as they worked on attaching dura steel limbs to him.

They had finished his other arm, modeling it after his first one. But the legs were giving them a bit of difficulty as they didn't have his own physical limb to model off of like they had with his first steel arm. Obi-Wan touched the arm gently, knowing that Anakin couldn't move away from him.

"Padmé is dead."

He hadn't intended on telling Anakin this, not until he was well and could handle this better, but he felt that this was the right thing to do. It was like the force was guiding him here, urging him to tell Anakin. But why? When it would only hurt him—if he even cared anymore. But Obi-Wan saw that he did. He saw tears well up in Anakin's eyes and the anger turned into a deep sadness.

Obi-Wan suddenly understood. Anakin had never meant to hurt Padmé. He had let his emotions control him and it was possible he thought he might have killed her… and would it be good for him to believe that? Would guilt force him back to the light? Or would losing the one person he loved drag him further down the road of the darkside?

"The birth was difficult," he said, wanting to erase any doubt in Anakin's mind. He just couldn't put that kind of guilt on him. "She didn't make it."

Anakin blinked and a tear fell.

"I'm so sorry."

Anakin closed his eyes.

-

For days Anakin refused to speak to him while the medical droids healed his body and added the replacements legs and arms. There were new scars on his body, but in a way he was lucky to be alive. If he hadn't had his prosthesis arm to grip the ground, he would have fallen into the lava and died.

Obi-Wan shuddered. He was too weak in the Force to kill Anakin, but he had come so close. Thank the Force he hadn't managed it. He would have regretted it all his life, even though he shouldn't. His emotions, _his love_, were too tied to Anakin. It was devastating—destructive. Look at what his love had cost? He should have seen the edge Anakin had been teetering on. But he hadn't. And he had paid the price.

Anakin crippled again by him and so far gone, who knew if he could be saved?

Obi-Wan felt the tears trickle down his cheeks, bitter to the taste as he watched the medical droids change Anakin's bandages. Even in this state, he was beautiful and Obi-Wan knew only too well how dearly he loved.

-

"Master Kenobi," a medical droid said, "Anakin Skywalker refuses to eat."

Obi-Wan turned to the droid sharply. "I thought he was being fed through the tube."

"He is," it confirmed.

"Then how—" Obi-Wan stopped and pressed his lips together so he didn't curse. As weak as Anakin was, he could still use the _force_. Obi-Wan shuddered, thinking of the implications of this. When Anakin regained his full strength, he wouldn't be able to stop his former apprentice from killing him. "Thank you," he said stiffly.

"He requires sustenance to heal, Master Kenobi."

Obi-Wan nodded curtly. "Go ahead, I will be there shortly."

The medical droid nodded and shuffled off. Obi-Wan glanced down at his hands and took a deep breath. He longed to commune with the Force and mediate an answer to what he should do. But he didn't have the right state of mine. He hadn't ever since he'd brought Anakin back.

Master Yoda was right. Love, he should not.

But he did.

-

Pale and feeble. Such a contrast from the bright and strong boy he had raised from a padawan to a Jedi Knight. Gone, gone, _how gone_. But he didn't miss the boy, not really, not when the man was his best friend and—brother. Obi-Wan wouldn't dare to think of anything more than that. Just that. A love enough to be his undoing.

Anakin's downfall.

"Leave," Anakin hissed.

Obi-Wan's eyes refocused on the room and Anakin's fierce eyes. "The droids tell me you aren't eating."

"_Leave." _

"You need to eat."

"Why do you care?" Anakin rasped.

Obi-Wan breathed in deeply. "There is no simple answer."

Anakin narrowed his eyes, in his own way demanding a response.

"I love you."

Anakin turned away. "Don't lie."

"Ani, if I didn't—why would I bring you here? Why would I heal you?"

"My _name_ is Darth Vader."

"Ani…"

"My real Master will come for me," he vowed. "He's looking." Anakin's eyes met his. "I called him."

-

He paced and paced in his quarters. The starship was flying, the Force knew where. It was going somewhere to the Outer Rim. Obi-Wan hadn't really thought about _where_, too busy worrying about getting Anakin better—and hoping for the best. Of course, how could he even believe he could redeem his fallen apprentice?

It was hopeless.

Obi-Wan sighed and closed his eyes. Maybe if he communed with the Force he would know what to do. Though he could feel it surrounding him, he felt no answer. Obi-Wan gave himself over, letting it swamp his being. Peace, rationality, peace.

-

The next few days, Obi-Wan avoided Anakin, unsure of what he would do—uncertain of what he would hear that he didn't want to. It was easier to ignore the coming… devastation. He knew when Darth Sidious came, he would not live.

Obi-Wan balled up his fist and then let go. It was useless to regret. Instead he chanted the Jedi code, reminding himself of the peace, knowledge, serenity, and Force. And that there was no emotion, ignorance, passion, or death.

If only… he still believed.

-

"Obi-Wan."

Anakin was sitting with his back against the wall, staring down at his mechanical limbs. He hadn't looked up, he just knew it was him. Obi-Wan could feel something eerie about the force around him.

"Anakin."

His padawan looked up and there was anger still in them—but less than before. "You should leave."

"I won't abandon you." Obi-Wan hadn't known what he'd decided until he said it. Once the words had come out, he knew they were true. No matter what would come, he would not leave Anakin behind. Not when there might be a possibility of redemption as slim as it was.

"You should," Anakin stated flatly. "Do you know what I've done?"

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. He could see the younglings being killed, slaughtered like cornered animals. Innocent and helpless. He didn't know how Anakin—how his padawan how done such a thing. Had he really failed Anakin so much?

"I've killed hundreds of younglings," Anakin murmured. "I chopped their heads off and skewered them with my lightsaber."

Obi-Wan's eyes snapped open. Too easily he could remember Qui-Gon being murdered by Darth Maul. The pain, the anguish of it. But then the memory of him slashing Anakin's arm, his legs slammed into him. His eyes watered. Anakin was brother, son, and more to him.

"Do not tell me that it is in your heart to forgive such a thing," Anakin hissed, "for I know how you are, _perfect _Jedi Master, this is too much to forget."

"Anakin—"

"Darth Vader," he snarled, his eyes swirling. "Anakin is dead."

Obi-Wan stepped closer and would have reached to touch Anakin if his hand hadn't been thrown aside by a force push. "You aren't dead," he said. "You are still somewhere inside."

"Such a foolish hope…"

"Is it?" Obi-Wan asked.

"_It is_."

Obi-Wan stared into the eyes that once looked at him in adoration but now in complete hatred. By the Force did it hurt. And yet, if Anakin could manipulate the force—why hadn't he done something to harm him?

"_Leave!"_

"Anakin—"

His padawan turned away and that was it for today.

-

Obi-Wan waited until the next night to see Anakin, by then his padawan was no longer on the bed, but attempting to walk around the room. Obi-Wan watched safely from the entrance, watching Anakin stumble around with the prosthetic legs that squeaked with the lack of age. Oil and wear would decrease the awkward noise.

"You should be resting," he said.

Anakin jerked his head toward him. "You should be running."

"I do not fear death."

"Always the perfect Jedi, aren't you?" Anakin snapped. "Always lecturing me on the Code and teaching me to be like you. But that didn't work out, did it? Instead of a Chosen One, you got a Sith Lord."

"I know the true Anakin is somewhere in you," Obi-Wan responded with a tight control. "And you are the Chosen One."

Anakin threw his head back and laughed—sinister and chilling. "You cannot still believe that falsity of a prophecy! Obviously, Yoda and Mace Windu were always right about me. I was not meant to be a Jedi."

"Anakin—"

"I am a _Sith_," Anakin hissed. "And stop calling me Anakin."

"A Sith hates absolutely," Obi-Wan murmured, stepping closer to the rage. "But you, you love so completely it consumes you. You love too greatly, too painfully. That is where you draw your power from and it is not of the Dark Side."

"Your memory seems to be slipping, _Master_. Or have you forgotten what Yoda used to say? 'The pathway to the Dark Side, love is.'"

"Love is not wrong."

"The Jedi Code denounces it." Anakin's eyes, so bright—so furious pierced Obi-Wan's. "You upheld with all your being, do you now recant it?"

"I do not think love is wrong."

"How the Jedi have fallen that the perfect have become imperfect." Anakin reached up with his right hand and gently his knuckles touched Obi-Wan's cheek. "A pity you are too good to become a Sith and it is a pity there are only a Sith master and apprentice at one time. For sparing my life, I ought to spare yours. But… my orders are to exterminate the Jedi."

Obi-Wan's throat was dry. "Then—why?"

Anakin's hand swept down and gripped Obi-Wan around his neck tightly. "Why haven't I killed you?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan rasped around the choking hold.

Anakin's eyes were unfocused, drifting away somewhere. "My Master might want you alive." Obi-Wan gasped when Anakin suddenly released him. "He is better at Force manipulation. I am sure he can purge Yoda's whereabouts from you."

Obi-Wan sank to his knees and his fingers twitched near where he kept his lightsaber. It would be so easy to flick it on and just… end things. Kill Anakin, then himself. There was no way to live with it, but he could do it and not live with it—at least not really. In the Force, such a thing would be more bearable. And yet he didn't.

Anakin knelt down awkwardly and forced Obi-Wan to look at him. "Do you love me?"

That was _not_ what Obi-Wan had been expecting. He felt the words stick to his throat when he opened his mouth. Things he hadn't noticed before he now did. His lips were too dry, chapped. He felt dehydrated and his heart pounded like an out of control droid.

"Answer me."

"You know I do."

"Say the words."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. "I love you."

**To be continued...**

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**A/N:** Feedback would be lovely! The next and last part is complete and will be posted as soon as I get some reviews :)!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story!


	2. For Victory, An Empty Glass

**Note:** Thanks to those who did review the first part. It was wonderful to hear what you had to say about my story and I hope that you enjoy this part as much as you enjoyed the first!

**Disclaimer:** This is owned by George Lucas, I am just borrowing for the duration of the story!

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**DELIVERANCE**  
by Nenya Entwhistle

_For Victory, an Empty Glass_

"Master will be here in a week," Anakin stated, flexing his shoulders and stretching his back. "He has been unexpectedly delayed by Order 66, says he sensed some rogue Jedi and decided to stop and slaughter them."

Obi-Wan felt his gut twist at those words. He clenched his fist, but knew he couldn't retaliate against his padawan. If he wanted to he should have done so weeks ago. Now it was too late. It seemed the fight and recovery had only made Anakin that much stronger in the Force—the Dark Side.

"You want to stop me," Anakin murmured, much closer to him than he had been. "But you know you can't, can you?"

Obi-Wan jerked away and would have moved if Anakin's metal arm hadn't snaked around his waist and stopped him. "Anakin—"

"Darth Vader," Anakin snarled and leaned close, far too close. "Why do you persist in calling me by _that_ name?" Anakin's lips brushed against Obi-Wan's ear. "He's dead. You killed him."

"_No,_" Obi-Wan denied fiercely and rigidly. His body tensed when he felt Anakin's body press up against him. Desire, sexual desire wasn't something he allowed himself to be familiar. But Anakin was close, far too close. "My padawan is still in there."

Anakin bent his head down and Obi-Wan gasped when he rubbed his lips against his cheek. "Do you want me to call you Master?"

Obi-Wan again tried to remove himself, but Anakin's grip was too tight. "What are you doing?"

"You said you love me," Anakin hissed. "_Prove it_."

"Not like…" Obi-Wan began and stopped. He remembered Padmé's face, then the sickening feeling he'd gotten when he realized Anakin and her were together. It meant he wasn't the most important person in Anakin's life—as he'd always been until recently. Even before, when he'd known and yet not admitted they were a couple, he'd been sure he was _the_ person in a way he'd been never to Qui-Gon.

But this was wrong on so many levels. Yes, he loved Anakin, loved him more than anyone else. And yet, this wasn't proper. Jedi Masters didn't love their padawans like that. It broke the Code and he lived by it. It was his life. "I can't," Obi-Wan said hoarsely. "You know I can't."

"Then you don't love me." Anakin dropped his arm and stepped away. "You're just like the rest of them."

Obi-Wan didn't know why, but he reached and grabbed Anakin's arm. He froze when Anakin turned around, his eyes too fierce—too intense. "Padmé _loved_ you."

"She betrayed me."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Obi-Wan asked sharply. "She loved you until her dying breath."

"She once loved me," Anakin stated flatly, "but not enough to trust in me."

"Anakin—"

"_Master_," Anakin snarled, "if you deliberately continue to try my patience, you will see I've learned things that would make you scream."

By the Force, he must be a fool. Obi-Wan stepped forward, so close he was mere inches away. "Is that how you treat the ones you love?"

Anakin smiled and it was cruel, beautiful thing. "Did I say I loved you?"

Obi-Wan felt his heart being torn out. He didn't want to flee, but Anakin wasn't going to leave. This was his room. Obi-Wan stared for an instant, trying to find the boy he'd raised—the young man he'd love, and he failed for the first time. He didn't see Anakin anymore. Obi-Wan whirled around and ran.

What had he done?

-

Obi-Wan kept to himself for the next day. The only communications he had was telling the Commander to keep an erratic path. Unpredictability had to be helping. But his stomach twisted to think that the random journeying had inadvertently brought Darth Sidious near other Jedi.

How long had they been on the run? Yoda had dropped Luke off at Tatooine and had probably arrived at Dagobah already. Senator Organa had taken Leia even more Yoda had left. It had been weeks, right? The days all seemed to blend together, the days he had waited and tried to believe that Anakin could be turned back to the light.

But he had failed. _Then kill him, you must_, Yoda's words whispered into his mind.

His hand drifted down to his lightsaber and Anakin's. He didn't know why he carried both. He should have destroyed Anakin's. It would be wiser, but Anakin had yet to try to steal the lightsaber from him. If he could use the Force, then Anakin had to be strong enough to take his lightsaber back. But he hadn't.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes. Maybe meditation would help.

-

"Are you going to do that until you die?" Anakin asked, leaning against the doorway and looking far too comfortable for someone who had been on the edge of death only two weeks ago. "It won't help you know. There is no peace, no serenity, and no knowledge that could save you now, _Master_."

Obi-Wan shut his eyes, reaching for the Force, but he only felt a rampant darkness. It was coming from Anakin he knew, but he tried to maneuver his way around. The meditation hadn't really brought his peace, but it had calmed his nerves. He almost felt like he had numbed himself enough to do what he should have done before.

By the Force, why did he have to love Anakin?

"Your thoughts are so loud," Anakin remarked. "I can feel you trying to find the Force, but you can't. You have failed." He stepped forward until he was standing over Obi-Wan. "All is lost. You cannot save me anymore."

Obi-Wan snapped his eyes open and he reached for Anakin's lightsaber. He tossed it to him and then grabbed his own. "Then you leave me no choice," he declared flatly. "I cannot allow a Sith to live."

"Do you really think you can kill me?" Anakin asked. "You couldn't then and you can't now."

Obi-Wan brought his lightsaber up and swung it at Anakin. He almost thought he'd land the blow, but Anakin brought his lightsaber up to block. Obi-Wan felt relief gnaw at his insides. How was he supposed to do this? He needed to purge his feelings; he had to forget this had ever been his padawan. This wasn't Anakin, not anymore.

"I will do what I must," Obi-Wan said.

"Then you must," Anakin countered, parrying Obi-Wan's blow with far too much ease.

His thoughts, his fears had been correct. Anakin's power had increased and would only keep growing. He couldn't be at full strength yet, not when he'd been so weak. To even think of how much power Anakin would have when he was fully well, Obi-Wan didn't even want to let his mind grasp the idea.

Obi-Wan felt his attacks switch to defenses; it was all he could do to meet each of Anakin's blows. Slowly he felt himself inching backwards until he ran into the wall. Then his lightsaber was knocked from his hand and Anakin's was coming for his throat. He flinched when Anakin turned it off.

"Unfortunately," Anakin remarked, holding his hand out and force-calling Obi-wan's lightsaber, "you aren't strong enough."

Obi-Wan stared into Anakin's swirling eyes. "Why?"

"As I said before," Anakin stated flatly, "Master may want you alive for questioning."

-

Anakin was a paradox. One moment, Obi-Wan was sure his former padawan wanted to kill him. The next, he was certain of nothing. Obi-Wan felt like he was standing on the edge between fire and ice. He didn't know what to do. Meditation was no solace. Anakin seemed to enjoy plaguing him in those times, knowing his presence would be interruption enough.

Obi-Wan groaned when he felt heat curling in his belly. It burned in a wrong way. He hadn't felt this _sensation_ in years, not since… adolescence when he didn't know how to control himself as much as he did now. But Anakin—Darth Vader—_no, Anakin_ knew how to upset his balance.

"_You said you love me. Prove it." _

But he couldn't. He couldn't. Not like that.

-

"Master," Anakin said, walking into the room with a fluidity that belied the fact he had steel for legs, "meditating again?"

Actually he wasn't, but he was sitting in the position. He defaulted to it when he was nervous. It was like his body knew exactly how to get comfortable, even if he wasn't. Obi-Wan breathed in deeply then exhaled. Be one with the Force and at peace.

"You should know it does little good," Anakin murmured, kneeling down besides him. "Communing with the Force draws you further and further away from the reality of now, which is the Dark Side and the Sith."

Obi-Wan tried to relax himself, but it wasn't working—not when Anakin was so close. By the Force, Anakin was within an arm's reach and looked _good._ The thoughts Anakin had put into his head were wrong, utterly wrong. Why was Anakin doing this? He _loved_ Padmé. Her, not him.

She had said, "_He loves you so much, so much…"_

But all Obi-Wan heard in his head was Anakin saying, "_Did I say I loved you?"_

The denial hurt and Obi-Wan knew it shouldn't. He shouldn't care if his padawan loved him. He should be glad Anakin didn't. No attachments, they were dangerous. Look at what Anakin had done already…

Obi-Wan froze when Anakin touched him, his leather covered hand caressing his cheek. "It's no use," Anakin said. "You're burning."

He turned away from Anakin's piercing eyes. "Leave please."

"Why should I?" Anakin asked without a hint of mercy, his touch growing bolder. "You want me here, don't you? You did before." His fingers stopped moving, his thumb resting over Obi-Wan's lips. "Have you changed your mind so quickly? Don't you want to save me?"

"Do you want to be saved?" Obi-Wan asked hoarsely. His body was raging with a blaze he didn't want to acknowledge. He had to fight this, _he couldn't succumb to this desire_. This was his apprentice! Not… just some being for his lust.

"Have you given up?" Anakin inquired.

"Do you want to be saved?"

Anakin's hand dropped from his cheek and he lowered himself into the meditation position. "Do you think you can save me?"

Obi-Wan had no answer. This Anakin was different. This Anakin was impulsive, reckless in an entirely new way and yet—there was a certain emotion lurking in Anakin he did recognize. Anakin wanted and he didn't know what he wanted. It was enough to know that he did.

It was hard to miss when it clung to Anakin like the Force.

-

That night Obi-Wan dreamt of Anakin. It was entirely improper. Anakin was half-naked and sleeping in their shared quarters. But they hadn't shared living quarters in a year and more, not since Anakin had become a Jedi Knight—not since Anakin had started spending much of his time with Padmé.

Anakin's right hand was whole, not made of steel and metal and non-living material. It was real and it was drifting down, then moving in a regular motion that drew moans from his padawan. Obi-Wan knew what Anakin was doing, but he couldn't rip his eyes away. He was watching and by the Force he kept watching.

Only when Anakin's dark eyes—blood red—looked at him did Obi-Wan jerk away and bolted up to an upright position, his chest heaving and his eyes opening. It was so real that he wildly looked around, expecting to see Anakin. Thank the Force that he didn't. He didn't know how to face Anakin now.

This was wrong. He knew that Anakin in his dreams. That Anakin was no Jedi Knight. That Anakin in bed had two real hands. That Anakin was still very much his padawan and he had dreamt of him _like_ that. This was so wrong.

-

"Disturbance," Anakin remarked the next morning, walking into Obi-Wan's room as if it were a normal day like any other, "late last night."

Obi-Wan could almost believe that they were back at Coruscant and Anakin was just his padawan coming back from lessons, except the tone was wrong. Anakin's voice was harsher and more deliberate, and he said things the younger Anakin never would. After all, Anakin wasn't himself—Obi-Wan just didn't want to wrap his mind around that thought. He would cling to the idea that Anakin was still Anakin.

There must be hope. Didn't Padmé say there was still good in him? Somewhere?

"Dark and unwanted," Anakin murmured, lowering himself onto Obi-Wan's bed. "You would like nothing more than to have it ripped from you and discarded," he hissed. "Do you think I do not want the same?"

His hand reached up and caressed Obi-Wan's cheek. It burned not his face but further down. Obi-Wan shifted his hips uncomfortably. Why was Anakin doing this? What of Padmé? This was… dangerous.

"For this _feeling_ to go away?"

Obi-Wan wanted to jerk his face away, but Anakin's other hand was there, gripping his chin. "Let go."

"No."

Anakin bent his head and shifted his body; Obi-Wan tensed his own immediately. It wasn't only his muscles that stiffened he thought with a groan as Anakin settled on top of him, his abdomen pressed against Obi-Wan's sensitive erection. Obi-Wan couldn't turn his face away when Anakin's face shadowed his. He tried to make his lips unforgiving, but they gave away to the soft pressure.

Tender was Obi-Wan's first thought before Anakin's tongue darted between his lips. It was heat, such blazing heat. Obi-Wan felt like everything was scorching and he couldn't take it. He tried to use the Force to push Anakin away, but he couldn't feel it. There was only Anakin.

It was Anakin that pulled away after the beginning tentativeness had worn off. "You want me," Anakin murmured in a surprisingly hoarse voice. Obi-Wan didn't know if Anakin was playing him, but it didn't sound like it. "I want you."

Obi-Wan gazed into Anakin's lighter colored eyes. They were still swirling, but there was no doubt the darkness was fading—if only a little. Would this, would this evoked gentleness be able to pull Anakin from the Dark Side? But wasn't emotions the pathway to it? Obi-Wan felt flooded with confusion and uncertainty.

"Let me have you," Anakin whispered, lowering his face and pressing his lips against Obi-Wan's exposed throat, "_Master._"

He could not kill Anakin, so as Master Yoda had said: _Then redeem him, you will_.

Obi-Wan's lifted his hands and grazed his knuckles against Anakin's soft cheeks. "You are beautiful," he said, stunned at how deeply he did mean them. When Anakin raised his head and looked into him with his half-shuttered eyes, Obi-Wan knew it was no time to lie or to hide. "I want you."

Anakin lowered his face and kissed him. This time it was more driven, less gentle—but not brutal, not anything like how a Sith should be. At least, that was the vague hope in Obi-Wan's mind. This had to be how Anakin was like with Padmé. This wasn't about Darth Vader. This was Anakin and his love. It had to be.

And so Obi-Wan lowered his walls.

-

Fucking Anakin was like dying a little each time. Obi-Wan gasped, moaned, and clung to Anakin as he drove his cock into him. The speed, the heat, and the nerves were too much. It was more than the physical sensations. Anakin poured the Force into this—this passionate convergence.

"_Master,_" Anakin rasped when he came. "Uahh…"

Obi-Wan felt Anakin's metal hand grasp his cock tightly, firmly, and then started to move ever so slowly. The leather, the friction, _by the Force_ it was too much. He spent himself in one last surge of fulfillment.

It was Anakin's lips, curved into a smile that reassured Obi-Wan. It was Anakin's heart beating close to his own that reminded Obi-Wan that even if this was wrong, it felt right. It was Anakin's words, however, that always crashed the illusion.

"Good fuck," Anakin murmured. "Almost as good as Padmé."

Obi-Wan tensed, his ass tightening and he winced at the ache. He knew there would be more painful reminders of how he wasn't really what Anakin wanted, just what he had so he wanted anyways. Never before had Obi-Wan realized what a leech his padawan truly was. Anakin needed, he wanted, so he took and took until there was nothing.

Anakin's hands drifted down his side and curled around his hips. "I can feel your love." Anakin bent his head and pressed his lips against Obi-Wan's nipple. "It echoes."

Tensing and shuddering, Obi-Wan groaned when Anakin started sucking. Whatever thoughts, whatever doubts he had—they fled, they faded until there was only Anakin.

-

They were lying in bed together, Anakin's arms around his waist and his face pressed on his chest. Obi-Wan liked these moments most. They were less debauched and it was infinitely gentler. This wasn't about sex. This was something else. And his mind could forget that Anakin didn't love him.

Obi-Wan stroked Anakin's dark blond hair, threading his fingers through the strands. When had he started to _love_ his padawan? The attachment had started before Anakin had been with Padmé. But that was more of a brotherly one, he thought. One of friendship for he had never considered himself as a father figure to Anakin. No, they were too close in age and if… Qui-Gon had lived, Anakin would have been his next padawan. Then they'd truly be brothers.

"You think too much," Anakin murmured. "Stop."

"You cannot control someone's thought," Obi-Wan chided, wondering when things had slipped a bit back to the way they had been.

"People will do anything for those they love," Anakin declared softly. "This is a small thing unless you've lied."

"Why would I lie?"

"To manipulate me, to use your love against me," Anakin answered half-heartedly. "To make me _believe._"

"Why should it matter? You don't—"

"I shouldn't," Anakin whispered sharply. "_I shouldn't._ But I do."

Obi-Wan sucked in some air and choked as it went down the wrong way. "What?"

"I've _always_ loved you," Anakin hissed and lifted his head off Obi-Wan's chest. His face hovered over Obi-Wan's, his eyes so much lighter than before. "Even when you hated me."

"I never hated—"

"You lie," Anakin snarled, turning his face and moving away. "After Qui-Gon died," Obi-Wan flinched instinctively when he heard Anakin say it aloud, "you took me as your padawan because he _requested _it as his death wish. It wasn't because of me. It was because of him! But I would have done everything and anything for you, but you never turned to me not until—"

"It was too late?" Obi-Wan finished sadly.

Anakin didn't answer.

-

The days went by and Obi-Wan almost forgot that a Sith Lord, a _Master_ was chasing after them. It was easy to let go of such concerning thoughts when Anakin was sucking his cock or licking his nipples. Easier not to think, but when he was alone he did remember and regret crept into his being. All _this_ would be gone.

The door to his bedroom opened and Anakin stood there absolutely naked. Any doubts, any worries fled Obi-Wan's mind. He pulled his tunic off of him, lifted an eyebrow, and Anakin came.

-

"Fuck me."

Obi-Wan paused, his tongue hanging out of his mouth since he'd been in the process of licking his way down Anakin's chest and stomach to his cock. "What?"

_Fuck me_, Obi-Wan heard in his head.

Obi-Wan lifted his head and gazed down at his former padawan. _Why?_

It had been weeks since they had used the Force to speak to each other. It was like Anakin had been trying to deny any remnant of their former relationship. But if Anakin was allowing this, maybe he was coming around. And… by the Force, Obi-Wan could hope.

_I want you_.

_Do you?_

_Please… _Obi-Wan groaned when he felt Anakin's steel hand spread lubricant over his hard cock. _Master._

"I love you," Obi-Wan moaned sometime in the middle of his thrusts. "I do."

When it was over, when he was spent—Anakin held him.

-

A loud booming sound broke the peace and embrace. Anakin's lips stopped the onslaught and his body froze. Obi-Wan felt dread pulse through his blood. It was not like the Jedi to feel such things, but then Anakin was wholly encompassing, influencing.

"He's here," Anakin stated flatly. He pulled his clothes on, grabbing his cloak, and summoned his lightsaber. "Get dressed."

Obi-Wan didn't bother to argue. He dressed himself quickly and when he was done, he caught Anakin looking at him with a frown on his face. Obi-Wan's hand itched for his lightsaber, but he had no idea where Anakin kept it. It could be anywhere, but he doubted Anakin had locked it up. It was somewhere, probably close. Sometimes he felt like he could almost feel it.

"Follow me," Anakin snapped, striding out of the room.

Obi-Wan was left no choice but to tail him.

-

Darth Sidious. Obi-Wan did not fear anyone and so he felt nothing for the Sith Lord. Chancellor Palpatine meant nothing to him. All his attention was directed at his padawan, who knelt before Darth Sidious.

_This wasn't how it was supposed to be!_ His mind screamed. Anakin should have been standing tall and Darth Sidious should have been on his knees. Anakin was the chosen one. He was the one who was meant to destroy the Sith, not join them.

"You have failed me, my apprentice," Darth Sidious hissed, his hand on his lightsaber. "Why is _he_ not dead? Did you not understand Order 66? The Jedi are to be exterminated!"

"How did you find us?" Anakin asked monotonously.

"Your Force signature cannot be hidden from me, my apprentice. Did you really think your shields are a match for my probe?"

Anakin stood up and shrugged his cloak off, thrusting it at Obi-Wan. "Will you spare him?"

Darth Sidious threw his head back and his hood fell from his heavily scarred face, laughing in a hoarse, harsh manner. "Do you even need to ask such a useless question?"

"It is a small thing."

Obi-Wan felt the unmistakable feel, Force and physical, of his lightsaber hidden within the robes. He glanced at Anakin's back and then at Darth Sidious. He couldn't see Anakin's face, but the tense set of his shoulders indicated the unrest. A strange fluttering of _what might be_ flurried in his stomach.

"What is small is not always weak," Darth Sidious snarled and his lightsaber blazed into life with a fierce strength. "Move aside, Darth Vader."

Anakin lowered his head and stepped to side. Obi-Wan felt the little hope die once more. He knew there was no way he could defeat Darth Sidious alone. Maybe Anakin had forgotten the lightsaber was hidden in his robes. Sometimes Anakin could be quite… reckless.

Darth Sidious moved forward and the smile on his face was terrible. "Tell me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, where is Yoda?"

His shields, already thick and solid, reinforced themselves exponentially. Obi-Wan was not about to endanger Yoda… and Anakin's children. By the Force, he'd forgotten to tell Anakin about Luke and Leia. Obi-Wan threw his eyes desperately at Anakin and was relieved to see Anakin wasn't still turned away from him. Anakin was looking at him and his lips were moving. They were saying something, but Obi-Wan couldn't make them out—not when he felt Darth Sidious' mind slam into his own.

The walls around his mind and secrets were breaking, dissolving. Obi-Wan crashed to his knees, his fingers curling around the lightsaber, but he couldn't—couldn't move to counter. His grip was slipping and his wide eyes saw Darth Sidious' lightsaber arcing down to deal the death blow.

_Yoda _flashed into his mind, but not the memory Darth Sidious was after. He was almost there; Yoda was talking to him, telling him to save Anakin if he could and if he couldn't… he knew what he must do. The scenes were shifting now to when Yoda had told him—

"_Noooooo!_"

Obi-Wan vaguely made out Anakin's voice when his padawan's lightsaber like the years before with Count Dooku, stopped his certain death. The Force attack abruptly left and Obi-Wan felt the numbed feeling leave him. His fingers wrapped around his lightsaber and he wrenched it free from the cloak.

He whirled to the action and saw Darth Sidious and his Anakin fighting.

"You would betray your allegiance to me… for him?"

Anakin's face said everything, the pain and the answer.

"You would have been my greatest apprentice," Darth Sidious declared, using his greater command of the Dark Side against Anakin to knock his lightsaber aside. He forced Anakin to go onto the defensive and soon had Anakin against the wall. "But I will kill you if I must."

Obi-Wan had gotten close, he was close enough. He raised his lightsaber to strike the final blow, but Darth Sidious jerked around a little and his hand emitted a Force lightning. It struck Obi-Wan hard in the chest and he cried out—or was it Anakin?

"Please,"Anakin begged, falling to his knees. His padawan didn't plead. That wasn't him. "_Please…"_

"Darth Vader," Darth Sidious said, "we must destroy all your weaknesses."

_This was it_, Obi-Wan thought. But Darth Sidious had underestimated Anakin just like he had. Anakin commanded the Force and used it to thrust Darth Sidious aside. He summoned his lightsaber and Obi-Wan forced himself to his feet. _Like old times,_ he reflected momentarily as they moved forward in a tandem only close fighting partners had.

But these weren't old times. In the past, it was always Anakin who was overlooked. The enemy always focused on him, but Darth Sidious knew his apprentice was more dangerous. Darth Sidious concentrated on Anakin, deflecting what blows Obi-Wan could get in with a child's ease.

If only Yoda were here…

Anakin lost an arm, but thank the Force for implants. Anakin's face twisted in a shallow kind of pain, but his lightsaber was back in his other arm before Obi-Wan could dare to blink. It was fast and not fast enough. Anakin parried one blow and then Darth Sidious' lightsaber sank into Anakin's chest. _Like Qui-Gon's._

Anakin didn't scream in pain, but his eyes rolled back into his head. Obi-Wan saw the irises. They weren't dark anymore—they were light. Anakin's lips were moving, they were forming three words over and over again. _I love you_.

Obi-Wan felt a surge of rage, a desire for destruction that could have led him to the Dark Side if it were not for love. He pushed forward, despite Darth Sidious' overwhelming power and superiority. Darth Maul had underestimated him, and so too had Darth Sidious, when in losing an arm—he gained the Sith Lord's head.

The pain was horrible, but Obi-Wan made it to Anakin's side and lifting his padawan's—his lover's head to his lap. "Anakin?" Obi-Wan placed his hand over Anakin's wound. "I love you."

Anakin's eyes filled with torment gazed into his. But there wasn't only anguish. There was something else. Anakin opened his mouth, trying to say something, but in that momentarily look everything was conveyed. His despair and his guilt, and his redemption.

His padwan repented and died.

Obi-Wan cradled Anakin for minutes, hours—days? Time meant nothing. Not in life, not in death. There was the Force, and then there was love.

It was enough.

_**The End.**_

* * *

_Please review, it's your last chance!_

**A/N: **I haven't written any Anakin/Obi-wan fic since I finished this one, haven't really had the need as this satisfied my muse. I really do hope that you have enjoyed this story as it has a special place amongst my stories, as it's one of the few I enjoy rereading myself. And if you would leave a review, as this is the last part, that would be great!


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